It's snowing like crazy here, the first of the year. The thermometer on the deck thinks it's 25 degrees outside. It's a fine day for staying indoors and drinking hot chocolate and maybe listening to St Saens and Berlioz. The Little Woman is headed out front with a snow shovel, trying to shame me into doing wintertime stuff, but I shall not be swayed â for one thing, it's still coming down.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/05/2002 10:29 am ||
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My attitude toward shovelling snow is God put it there and God will take it away when he's ready.
A statement attributed to Unemployed PotentateMullah Muhammad Omar, the ousted leader of the Taliban, says the United States will face more "hostility, chaos and destruction" if it attacks Iraq, an Arab television station reported today. And even if it doesn't, but that's another story...
The station, Al Jazeera, said it was faxed a one-page statement from Mullah Omar. "America is using terrorism as a justification to launch war against Iraq," the station quoted the statement as saying. "The U.S. will not gain anything but more hostility, chaos and destruction" with any attack. It might get Sammy's head on a plate. Or he could end up riding around the country on a motorcycle, like Mullah Omar...
Mullah Omar has been in hiding since he fled the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar last December ahead of an American-led military campaign. The usual routine: Tell your guys to fight to the last man and the last bullet, then run like hell.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/05/2002 11:15 am ||
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I don't think Mullah Omar knows how to use a fax.
#3
As a US Marine I would hate to remind the Taliban leader that the only destruction I've seen in awhile is his stuff getting smashed by US and our British friends. He He He! Cheers the the Brits for going rounds with us!
Russian security officials suspect that the Chechens who seized a Moscow theatre in October had wealthy Arab sponsors in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states and have sought Washington's support in finding the financiers. Senior officials say they have traced a series of telephone calls from the gunmen to their "sponsors" in the Gulf. We heard they listened to the calls, I was wondering when we would hear about where they came from.
During one call made to an unspecified Gulf state a financier asked for a video of scenes inside the theatre, and was told it could be made for a $1m fee. Wanted a snuff flick, did he?
"Several long telephone conversations were intercepted to Saudi Arabia, to the Emirates, and to Qatar. Sure like to hear these tapes, wouldn't you?
"We can say for sure that the hostage-taking was financed from abroad, and the terrorists maintained permanent contact with their sponsors." He added that the leader of the hostage-takers, Mosvar Barayev, and several of his fellow Chechens had planned to flee to the Gulf once the crisis was over. The source declined to name the sponsors and the country from which the video was requested, because the general prosecutor's office is still investigating the event. Making a list and checking it twice, going to find out who's naughty and nice.
The revelation helps to explain the pointed comments President Vladimir Putin made after his recent meeting with George Bush in St Petersburg. He pointed out that 16 of the 19 hijackers on September 11th were Saudi citizens, saying: "We will remember this," and adding:"We should not forget those who provide financing to terrorists." "Vengence is a dish best served cold. It's very cold in Moscow."
Russian security officials have been issuing warnings about the threat posed by Islamist extremists funded by wealthy Gulf state benefactors since the mid-90s. The security source said: "According to [security service] estimates, each month from the Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, from £1.3m to £2.5m comes to support terrorism on the territory of the Russian Federation." The Russian security services were constantly exchanging information on the funding organisations with their American and British counterparts, he said.
Russian security officials say there are long-standing links between organisations in Saudi Arabia and "terrorist activity" in Russia. The official added: "In Saudi Arabia there is a group of NGOs linked to al-Qaida that form an integral system feeding terrorism. "We count about 20 such organisations there who have accounts and branches in other countries." He added that the NGOs' purported purpose, international support for Muslims, was a front for funding terrorism. Seems like it's going to be headache time in Saudiland.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/05/2002 11:20 am ||
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Wow and this whole time I thought the Jews were behind this one also.
#2
Remember? Putin has been remembering since his days at KGB and the Soddy's (when Binny was their boy)financing the Pushtan-Afghanistan/Soviet war. I see the old KBG style dealing with this coming out pretty soon.
Posted by: Jack ||
12/06/2002 3:36 Comments ||
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Putin as the prototype for the Klingons? Worth pursuing.
The Saudi police minister has claimed Jews were behind the Sept. 11 attacks because they have benefited from subsequent criticism of Islam and Arabs, according to media reports.
Interior Minister Prince Nayef made the remarks in the Arabic-language Kuwaiti daily Assyasah last month. The latest edition of Ain al-Yaqeen, a weekly Internet magazine devoted to Saudi issues, posted the Assyasah interview and its own English translation. These guys don't seem to realize we are listening. Good, keep it up. Oh, and we are taking notes.
"We know that the Jews have manipulated the Sept. 11 incidents and turned American public opinion against Arabs and Muslims," Prince Nayef was quoted as saying in the Arabic text, while Ain al Yaqeen's English version referred to "Zionists" instead of "Jews." "We still ask ourselves: Who has benefited from Sept. 11 attacks? I think they (the Jews) were the protagonists of such attacks," Nayef was quoted as saying. Nayef's spokesman, Saud al-Musaibeeh, did not respond to repeated requests for confirmation the minister had been quoted accurately. Not a good time to be a Saudi spokesman.
The Internet magazine's English translation of the comments began to attract attention in the United States just as the Saudis launched a new public relations campaign to address accusations the kingdom is soft on terrorism and inculcates extremist thought among its citizens. So much for that campaign.
"The Saudis are telling us that they are an ally in the war on terror while their top government officials are still blaming ... the Jews and denying that 15 Saudis took part in the attacks on New York and the Pentagon (news - web sites)," Rep. Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat, said in Washington earlier this week.
"The Bush administration continually defends Saudi Arabia as a friend of the United States and a committed partner in the war on terror," Engel said. "Does this Saudi minister sound like a partner in the war on terror?" No.
Sen. Charles Schumer, also a New York Democrat, wrote this week in a letter to the Saudi ambassador to the United States that "the interior minister's comments only serve to confirm American suspicions about the Saudi government's commitment to the war on terror."
Nayef's remarks echoed rumors that have been heard in the Arab world since the attacks â but this time they are attributed to the man in charge of Saudi investigations into the attacks.
The Saudi minister was quoted in the interview as saying his kingdom is currently detaining some 100 terror suspects for interrogation. He added that the suspects "will either apologize for their mistakes and change their course or will be referred to trial." Just say you're sorry and you get out of jail free, huh?
In the interview, Nayef said he could not believe that bin Laden and his network, including Saudi participants, worked alone. He was quoted as saying he believed terrorist networks have links to "foreign intelligence agencies that work against Arab and Muslim interests, chief among them is the Israeli Mossad." "It's the JEWS!" Ok, Nayef, we'll carve that on your headstone.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/05/2002 03:19 pm ||
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It must be easy to play "Clue" in Islamania. "Mr. Jew" did it, wherever it was done, and with whatever weapon it was done with.
#2
I agree with Nayef - bin Laden and his network, including his huge number of Saudi participants, did not work alone -- they worked TOGETHER!
And so must we.
#4
The Donks are finally getting a clue, attacking Bush via his "The Saudis are our Friends" statements. Hopefully, after Iraq, Bush will turn his attention to the Saudis, explain how his statements were diversionary in a humbling, "beating his breast", apology to the American People before he bombs the cr*p out of the b*st*rds. THEN, when these same guys try to object, he'll gut them with their own statements.
America's Reichstag Fire
September 11, 2001 -- The most massive so-called 'terrorist' attacks on US soil since the Oklahoma City bombings of 1995, were known, a week ahead of time, by the American CIA. Among the foreign intelligence agencies who penetrated the plots were the French CIA and Israel's The Mossad, units of both often working with one another. Full story: skolnicksreport.com
Middle East-OKC connection
David Schippers tells Metcalf feds 'ignored' warnings of WTC attacks
IF CIA AND THE GOVERNMENT WEREN'T INVOLVED IN THE SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS WHAT WERE THEY DOING?
Bin Laden Met with the CIA in July and Walked Away
The Iraqi Government has also officially reacted to the Iraq human rights dossier published by the UK Government on Monday, saying the report was full of lies. The statement said that it was the US and the UK who were violating human rights daily by continuing to impose sanctions on Baghdad, and sending their jets to carry out air raids in the no-fly zones over the north and the south of Iraq. An Iraqi spokesman said the return of the UN inspectors was proving that the last dossier published by the British Government - about Baghdad's weapons of mass destruction - was full of falsifications as well. Greta had video backing up the dossier on FoxNews last night. It including a couple firing squads, kicking prisoners in the face, and footage from the 1988 gas attack in Halabja. It was pretty gruesome — but of course it was all made up. She also had an apologist a human rights spokesman on, who said that stuff was all in the past and we should move on, and besides the U.S. and Britain had committed war crimes in Gulf War I. He didn't say which ones. Greta's reaction was amusing. She looked like she'd wandered into a nuthouse, which I suppose she had.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/05/2002 09:32 am ||
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When even an avowed liberal like Greta gets that expression, you know some things are sinking in. My attitude to people like that is simply: please give them the biggest platform we can find.
With any luck, they'll bring that spokesman back several more times because it guarantees controversy and clash. And the credibility of the selective human rights apologists will drop a bit more with each exposure. As it should.
Posted by: Joe Katzman ||
12/05/2002 14:54 Comments ||
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how credible can you be to discredit your own research and findings? This is moronic. Move on to what? They depend on government to fund these NGO activities, but goverment support of these reports is just hypocracy? If the US wasn't so rich and powerful, Saddam wouldn't need to torture his people?
Posted by: john ||
12/05/2002 20:32 Comments ||
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"...and those that harbour terrorists". Does that include the apologists like HRW and AI? Isn't something like "moving on" more than apology but abetting by denying thus harbouring? Shouldn't we be cutting off their funds also?
Posted by: Jack ||
12/06/2002 4:01 Comments ||
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Saddam Hussein has said Iraq should give the United Nations weapons inspectors a chance to show the country has no banned weapons. It was the Iraqi leader's first public comments since inspections resumed last week - and a sharp contrast to more belligerent statements made by his vice-president on Wednesday. He urged his people to be patient in the face of what he called "unjust, arrogant, debased American tyranny". On Wednesday, Washington called for the inspections to be intensified, in another indication that it feels the searches are unsatisfactory. "Wait a minute! This might work! I think we stashed everything..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/05/2002 09:32 am ||
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UN weapons inspectors in Iraq have defended themselves after accusations by Baghdad of spying and suggestions by Washington that searches are not "aggressive" enough. Baghdad had launched a scathing attack on the experts currently searching sites in Iraq, accusing them of providing intelligence to the US and Israel to help with preparations for a military offensive. Pressure has also mounted on the inspection team from the White House, which has indicated yet again that it feels the searches are unsatisfactory.
"We believe we are doing the job we need to be doing. We have been unannounced and thorough," said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), whose inspectors are helping with the search. Ms Fleming rejected allegations of espionage, but added that if any inspector were found to be a spy, he would be immediately dismissed. "We have always said there is no room for any spies on our inspection teams," she told the BBC. Guess it all depends on what your definition of a spy is. By the Iraqi definition, they're all spies.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/05/2002 09:43 am ||
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Well according to Fisk Mossad's spies are practically amateurs so I'm not really sure what the Iraqi's have to worry about, except the super competant CIA sadomasochists working with Mossad.
On the other hand if Mossad was able to pull of 9/11 you would think they'd be a bit better at harrassing Saddam than the old inspector gambit, except perhaps the amateurish CIA that tried to kill Castro with exploding cigars.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar and an inspector is just an inspector.
#5
I think we are being too hard on the S&M inspector. He might be the most qualified and competent one.
He has 20 yr old munitions experience, a community college degree in security and has shown the gumption to run a small business. I don't know much about S&M, but I think his being 'dominant' implies some propensity to be assertive.
Compared to the treaty lawyer Hans Blix, or that Greek guy who mouthed off today, he is well qualified.
Posted by: John ||
12/05/2002 16:53 Comments ||
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Oh, I'm sure he really is well-qualified. It's just that the situation is so ridiculous to begin with, it just adds to the irony.
#7
pot is starting to boil and the party line rhetoric starts to fracture. Wonder how much more pressure it will take to panic the iraqis. If I was a weapons inspector right now, I'd be planning for a fast track out of town before somebody decided to treat me as a spy.
Posted by: john ||
12/05/2002 20:10 Comments ||
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This is a no-win job from the get go. We have the documentation and we can't share it with a bunch of unqualified UN geeks or it will show Sammy how much we know and how we obtained it. They are unqualified simply because there are only 2 countries in the world with the resources, expertise and experience in dealing with development and production of WMD - us and the ex-soviet union now Russia - everyone else including the Chinese are way behind us. Then you have the topographical-geographical coverage that needs to take place (almost impossible without the benefit of US spy satellite coverage)and its further compounded. I can understand the Greek's frustration - its borne of his knowledge that he is in an inferior position - thus the cry for us to give up the data. This is why we went to the UN - it gives us a western movie front to work behind and mobilize while everyone is focused on the inspections. Still starts February 4th - new moon.
Posted by: Jack ||
12/06/2002 3:58 Comments ||
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Iraq will admit to no banned activities in a key weapons declaration it is required to give the United Nations, its top liaison with UN disarmament experts said, courting US and British anger. General Hossam Mohammad Amin, who heads Iraq's National Monitoring Directorate, vowed Iraq would submit a "huge declaration" by Sunday's deadline, but reiterated that Baghdad had none of the weapons of mass destruction that Washington has said it must own up to or risk military action for "lying".
"It will be a huge declaration containing new elements, containing new sites, new activities conducted during the absence of inspectors," Amin told a news conference. It covers biological, chemical, missiles, nuclear but there are no prohibited activities. We have absolutely no weapons of mass destruction." Both Best of the Web and the Little Tiny Green Footballs commented yesterday on the statement by an unnamed Iraqi officer that if we didn't believe they didn't have weapons of mass destruction, and went to war with them, they'd use those weapons they don't have on us.
A senior Iraqi official who refused to reveal his name said that the Iraqi regime would defend its existence and its reputation. The Iraqi official said unequivocally: "When the regime was under intense attack in Al-Fau and began to be under threat, it did not hesitate to use all the weapons of mass destruction in its possession. Similarly, when the people of Halabja, or some of them, became guides for the Iranian forces that tried to breach the northeast [front], the regime did not hesitate to use chemical weapons." Therefore, "do not expect us to stand idly by in the face of any aggression that seeks to destroy and banish us not only from the regime but also from life."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/05/2002 10:42 am ||
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Hmmm - except those mustard-gas artillery shells they found yesterday.....those we declare
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/05/2002 10:51 Comments ||
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Let the games begin!
Whoops, my bad! They had already started when the inspectors arrived...
Dozens of Kurdish fighters and Islamic militants were killed in a battle that saw a remote hilly area of northeastern Iraq change hands twice in 24 hours, Kurdish military officials said Thursday. In an overnight assault, fighters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan regained two hilltops that had been captured by Ansar al-Islam guerrillas a day earlier, said a Patriotic Union commander, Sheik Jaffer Mustafa. This sounds a lot like the Korean War, swapping hill tops.
The Ansar had seized the Patriotic Union positions near the city of Halabja as the Kurdish fighters slept, killing nearly 20 and capturing an equal number, Mustafa said. He said he believed the Kurdish prisoners had been killed because villagers reported that Ansar members had asked them to collect their bodies. Killing prisoners being standard procedure.
Mustafa said about 15 Ansar were killed in the fighting. He did not know how many were wounded. Thirty fighters from the Patriotic Union suffered wounds, he said. Kurdish officials blamed Wednesday's high casualty toll on a lack of vigilance by their fighters as they prepared for the Muslim feast of Eid al-Fitr, which began Thursday. "It was really our guards' fault," said Mustafa Said Qader, a senior Patriotic Union official. "If the guards had not been martyred, they would have been punished." Sleeping while on guard duty is a big no-no.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/05/2002 11:47 am ||
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Your mistake can't get worse than fatal.
Isn't this the same group that was reported to be doing WMD work?
The U.S. aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman and its battle group set sail for the Mediterranean on Thursday for what many sailors believed will be an inevitable showdown with Iraq.
The 8,000 sailors aboard the 12 vessels in the Truman group knew they were sailing into waters that would be anything but calm. Although the Truman was leaving on what was officially labeled a routine six-month deployment, the mood on the Navy piers varied from "anxious" to "pumped."
The Truman is part of a U.S. buildup of military power in the Gulf region that the Bush administration says is aimed at pressuring Iraq to comply with the inspections and surrender any biological, chemical or nuclear weapons it might have.
Navy officials said the Truman group could be out longer than six months if war erupted in the Gulf. The Truman is scheduled to replace the George Washington battle group, but those ships could remain in the Gulf as well. Takes a week to get to the med, then another few days to transit the Suez canel. Unless we have permission to overfly both Isreal and Jordan, in which case she could operate in the eastern med to hit Iraq from the west. Good hunting, guys. God speed.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/05/2002 01:34 pm ||
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The George Washington battle group is scheduled to depart the region about December 20. It'll be interesting to see if it does.
Rear Admiral Snufflebeam commands the Truman group. Former Pentagon spokeman. The group has a Marine MEU with it, I believe.
#4
I like what one of the execs on the Truman said when it left port: "think of us as 98,000 tons of diplomacy".
Posted by: Jack ||
12/06/2002 3:43 Comments ||
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You would be correct about the MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) All carrier battle groups have one and there is about 5,000 Napalm pissing Marines (like myself) Itching for some trigger time on a few no good terrorist types.
#6
The battle group consists of the aircraft carrier USS Hary S.Truman and 11 other warships;
the guided-missile cruiser USS San Jacinto,
the guided-missile destroyers USS Oscar Austin,
USS Mitscher and USS Donald Cook,
the destroyers USS Briscoe and USS Deyo,
the guided-missile frigate USS Hawes,
the attack submarine Montpelier,
the oiler USS Kanawha and the ammunition ship USS Mount Baker
The battle group also includes Air Wing 3,
made up of about 80 aircraft from Norfolk;
Virginia Beach, Virginia; Jacksonville, Florida;
Whidbey Island, Washington; and Beaufort, South Carolina. No Marine unit was listed as part of the battle group sailing from Norfolk, I believe they are already there in the Gulf.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/06/2002 9:25 Comments ||
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Amid rising tension over a possible U.S.-led war in Iraq, Kuwait's navy stopped an Iraqi tugboat on Thursday after it entered Kuwaiti waters and arrested its crew of four, the official KUNA news agency reported. Major naval victory for the Imperial Kuwaiti Navy, bagged Tugboat Willy..
It quoted Kuwaiti Defence Minister Sheikh Jaber al-Hamad al-Sabah as saying he had asked the navy to turn over the four Iraqis to the interior ministry to determine their identity and take legal measures against them. The tugboat's seizure follows an incident on Tuesday in which Kuwait said an Iraqi vessel fired on Kuwaiti coast guard boats in the Gulf. Iraq denied involvement in Tuesday's incident and a U.S. military official said that there was no indication that any Iraqi vessel had fired on the Kuwaiti boats. Somebody here is not telling the truth.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/05/2002 01:46 pm ||
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Well since the Iraqi Naval ship(log raft) fired(threw rocks) at Kuwaiti Coast Guard ships the Kuwaiti ships(Rubber rafts) stopped the Iraqi "Tug boat" and all was safe in the Gulf for awhile.
My guess is the Iraqi crew were glad as hell to get off that thing, Plus they were able to see all their cohords in Kuwait.
#4
Don't be too hard on the Kuwaitis: Given that an innocent-looking dhow stuffed full of explosives killed some of our sailors on the USS Cole, and the recent attack on the french oil tanker, I would stop ANY boat entering waters shared by the ships of my most important ally. Doesn't matter if it was or wasn't loaded with explosives: you stop it and check it yourself, rather than wait until it blows up and say, "doh!". They were being safe, rather than sorry, and can always escort the tug and its crew back to international waters after being searched and cleared. Far easier than stitching the bodies an ally's sailors back together...
There are a lot of rumors flying around about a possible pre-emptive attack by Saddam before the 7th or 8th. Last report says he's popped down a bolt hole someplace: Time to start asking why...
A human rights group formally demanded that the International Olympic Committee expel Iraq's national Olympic committee because its chief -- Saddam Hussein's eldest son Uday -- tortured and jailed athletes who failed to please him. It's nice to have a hobby.
The group -- Indict, based in London -- said Wednesday it had lodged a complaint against the Iraqi body with the Ethics Commission of the International Olympic Committee. The group said it included witness statements from exiled former Iraqi athletes and United Nations reports to build its case.
"Iraq has violated every single provision of the IOC Code of Ethics," said Charles Forrest, chief executive of Indict. "The IOC should have investigated this on its own. Now I hope it will be forced to." IOC officials said they were aware of the complaint but were unable to comment because they had yet to receive the document.
Indict said the Iraqi leader's son once made a group of track athletes crawl on newly poured asphalt while they were beaten and ordered that some be thrown off a bridge. It also alleged he ran a special prison for athletes who offended him. "The Iraqi committee is the only Olympic committee in the world with its own prison and torture chamber," said Ann Clwyd, a British lawmaker who also is chairwoman of Indict. "To allow (it) to participate in the Olympic movement is to mock all of the Olympics' high principles." Such as bribery, kickbacks and rigging the judges.
Iraq was investigated in 1997 by FIFA, the international soccer governing body, following allegations that members of the Iraqi national team were tortured because they lost a key match.
FIFA spokesman Andreas Herren said two officials were sent to Iraq, where they interviewed members of the Iraqi Football Association. Twelve players also were interviewed and physically examined. "They weren't able to find any evidence or any witness to confirm those allegations," Herren said. Nobody wanted to talk? Gee, I wonder why?
Posted by: Steve ||
12/05/2002 02:43 pm ||
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I wonder what happened to their Saudi Arabian counterparts, losing 3 World Cup matches by a combined 12-0 score...
#2
Somehow I don't think an organisation that allows old fascists,a former secret police chief during South Korea's years of military rule and an ex-Stasi officer amongst it's ruling body is going to be bothered much about that.If you want to know more about IOC,check out the great book "The Lords of the Rings" by Andrew Jennings and Clare Sambrook.
Posted by: El Id ||
12/06/2002 0:58 Comments ||
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Ten Dutch IKEA stores forced to close because explosives were found in two outlets had been targeted for months in a criminal extortion plot, De Telegraaf newspaper reported yesterday. That's what I thought it would be, it didn't sound like a likely Jihadi target..
According to the paper, criminals sent the first letters demanding millions of euros in cash and threatening to plant bombs in stores of the Swedish home goods giant in September.
But a Dutch IKEA spokeswoman denied that the chain had been blackmailed. Don't want to give anyone else ideas?
IKEA closed its 10 Dutch outlets yesterday, in the middle of the busy holiday shopping season, after police found explosives in two stores in Amsterdam and Sliedrecht, near Rotterdam. Two policemen were injured when one device they were trying to defuse blew up in a nearby police station.
The authorities stressed that this was not an attempt at a terrorist attack on the Netherlands. They are only trying to terrorise a Swedish furniture company
"We must not create an image that terrorism has suddenly struck in the Netherlands," Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said.
De Telegraaf reported that the blackmailers already sent several "warnings" to IKEA in October to show they were serious. I'm sure every Multi-national takes not of warnings they receive from crackpots and crooks
"This is a warning, next time will be the big one. We will not announce anything and people will get hurt. You will suffer the consequences," the letter said. Actually, I think the boombers will suffer the consequences once they get caught
IKEA initially tried to solve the problem internally, without raising the alarm, according to sources close to the investigation cited by De Telegraaf. And that was their first mistake
Posted by: Paul ||
12/05/2002 06:02 pm ||
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"And that was their first mistake"
No, their first mistake was forgetting to include that part 3B washer and tightening nut for their 72" Billy cabinet that pissed these guys off.
Posted by: Jack ||
12/06/2002 4:04 Comments ||
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Three people have been killed in an attack at the Macedonian consulate in the southern Pakistan city of Karachi, police said. The dead - all Pakistani - had been tied up, gagged and killed before an explosion at the office, and doctors said the throats of two of the victims had been slit. One of the men killed was a security guard, but there were no indications as to the identities of the other man and woman. Sounds pretty Islamic, doesn't it? Guess they've run out of Merkins, Brits and Frenchies to attack, so now they're down to attacking Macedonian interests because they're mean to, ummm... Albanians, I guess.
It is not clear who is behind the incident, but a local police chief told the French news agency AFP it "appeared to be an act of terrorism". Hmmm... Bomb, check... Throats slit, check... Definitely not philanthropy, so I guess it's terrorism.
The blast occurred at about 0100 on Thursday morning in the office of the honorary consul general of Macedonia in an upmarket residential area in Karachi. The consulate building was severely damaged in the explosion. The honorary consul for Macedonia, primarily a commercial post, is the brother of Pakistan's former caretaker prime minister, Moeen Qureshi. The consul, Bilal Qureshi, is quoted by AFP as saying: "I have no enmity with anybody. I don't think that it has anything to do with me personally." A Pak who has no enmity with anybody. I sure believe that one. I wonder what the Birthday Boarhog is gonna bring me this year?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/05/2002 09:56 am ||
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Seems like it's the work of our old friends:
"An explosion Thursday at Macedonia's consulate offices and the slaying of three people whose bodies were found inside may have been the work of al-Qaida, taking revenge for the killing of seven militant suspects in Macedonia earlier this year, police said. In the ruins of the Macedonian consulate office, scribbled in blue ink on a wall were the words "al-Qaida Pakistan, result of adultery" and a couplet titled "Message for Infidels" that said:
"Loyalty will be returned in loyalty.
Oppression in oppression.
We are men like you.
We will do what you will do."
The messages, in Pakistan's Urdu language, could signal al-Qaida's involvement - or could have been written by someone else trying to throw investigators off the real culprits' trail, said Tariq Jamil, Karachi's deputy police chief.
Counterterrorism police were investigating the possibility that the slayings and subsequent explosion may have been in retaliation for the killing of seven Pakistanis in Macedonia on March 2. Macedonian police opened fire on a van that tried to drive through a roadblock in Skopje, killing seven Pakistanis inside. Police said they found seven Kalashnikov assault rifles, several hand grenades and ammunition in the van.
Macedonian officials said the suspects were planning attacks on Western embassies."
Posted by: Steve ||
12/05/2002 11:17 Comments ||
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I can't guarantee it's what set our bomber friend off, but there is a good sized (25% or so) Muslim Albanian minority in Macedonia and a bit of friction and low-level civil war between them and the largely-Orthodox Macedonians.
If Osama's still hot about losing Spain a half-millennia ago, that might be enough to get some Pakistani juiced.
Posted by: Mark Byron ||
12/05/2002 11:22 Comments ||
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A Hindu nationalist leader accused of spurring anti-Muslim rioting early this year was wounded by gunfire in an assassination attempt today, a little more than a week before elections in the state of Gujarat. Only wounded? Dammit!
The official, Dr. Jaideep Patel, the Gujarat joint secretary general of the World Hindu Congress, was shot twice by two men on a motorcycle as he left home, said Kaushik Mehta, a World Hindu Congress spokesman. Although one bullet hit Mr. Patel in the neck, Mr. Mehta said his life was not in danger. There were no suspects. The shooting threatened to further polarize a tense political campaign. Gujarat was the site of largely unchecked communal rioting in February and March after 59 Hindus were burned to death in a train coach in the city of Godhra. In response, thousands of Hindus throughout the state rioted, killing at least 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, and destroying Muslim homes, mosques and businesses. Normally, I disapprove of this kind of senseless violence, but here I'd make an exception, since it's not senseless. I suppose the ineptitude of the beturbanned gunnies does tend to keep the overall corpse counts lower than they could be, but if they're going to snuff a real bad guy, they should at least do it right. But I realize they don't have much practice at icing real bad guys — pilgrims and housewives are usually sufficient for them.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/05/2002 12:36 pm ||
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Speaking in New Delhi, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged Islamabad to stop militants crossing into Kashmir, a region that has twice taken nuclear-armed India and Pakistan to war and remains at the centre of crossborder tensions. But Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali dismissed Putin's appeal as well as his concerns about Pakistan's nuclear weapons. Blew him right off, in fact:
"Pakistan does not believe in terrorism. We know what is best for us," Jamali told Reuters. "We have always refuted it. We never believe in it. I don't want to blame Mr Putin for making such statements while sitting in India," said Jamali, who was sworn in last month. Dammit! I just squirted hot coffee out my nose...
Winding up a summit with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Putin said on Wednesday that Islamabad should tear up the militants' infrastructure. If they did that, they wouldn't have anyplace to export their jihadis. Guess what would happen then?
"Pakistan's nuclear assets are in safe hands. Pakistan is a positive thinking country and there is no need for worry about the country's nuclear programme," he said. That very statement makes me worry more...
Russia has praised Pakistan's contribution to the US-led "war on terrorism" but officials in Moscow have suggested that the al Qaeda network has support in certain Pakistani circles. We won't dwell on which ones. The list would be too long.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/05/2002 01:11 pm ||
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The Pakis do seem to be going out of their way to piss off the russkies.
At least 200 women out of every 1,000 die during delivery process in Pakistan, where infant mortality rate per 1,000 lives is still 87, says the State of the World Population Report 2002 launched on Tuesday. The report with emphasis on people, poverty and possibilities said 50 out of every 1,000 between the age of 15 to 19 years become pregnant. It noted that the HIV prevalence between the age of 15 to 24 in Pakistan is 0.06 among males and 0.05 among females. The life expectancy among males is 61.2 years while 60.9 among females whereas the percentage of illiteracy among males is 41 per cent while 70 in females, it added. We all know what their problem is, of course: they're not religious enough. Government by mullahs would fix those problems in a jiffy.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/05/2002 01:39 pm ||
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The lavish welcome laid on by India for this week's official visit of Russia's Vladimir Putin was looking like a love-in until somebody mentioned the word "MiG." In the last five years, India's elderly Soviet-built MiG-21 warplanes have suffered 110 crashes, and the Indian media have started calling the plane "widow-maker." Must be a bitch getting pilots to re-up.
The Russians, saying that this crash rate was five times higher than their own, blame pilot error and false economies by the Indian Air Force, which tried to save money by buying "non-authorized" spare parts for the aircraft. This infuriates the Indians, who point out that since Russia no longer makes the MiG-21, nor its spares, they have to buy them somewhere. Joe's Discount MiG Parts, cash only
Nikolai Nikitin, MiG's director-general, is offering to take over the servicing and logistics for the elderly aircraft from India's Hindustan Aeronautics, which built the aircraft under license. The MiG-21 was phased out from Soviet service over 20 years ago. In fact Nikitin, who has lately seen the rival Russian Sukhoi-27 and Sukhoi-30 warplanes winning the big Indian contracts, will offer almost anything to get a new deal to provide MiGs to India, from the MiG-29K naval version for the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier to the wholly new MiG-29M fighter bomber. Nikitin is pushing the MiG-29K as an alternative to the French-built Mirage-2000 for India's nuclear-capable bomber fleet. But the MiG has a credibility problem. The MiG-21 crash rate of 2.81 per 10,000 flying hours is fearsomely high. Only one aircraft in the Indian inventory has a worse record -- the MiG-23. That's a ringing endorsment for you. No wonder everyone's standing in line to buy U.S. planes.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/05/2002 01:54 pm ||
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MiG may have a point. Look at our B-52's, twice the age and still flying. And... the planes were built in India, if I read the story correctly. So, how is it a Russian problem?
The MiG-29 has a range of about 1300 nm, useful for India, though I'm not sure they can reach Diego with one.
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The MiGs have the same design philosophy as all other Soviet equipment - make them cheap, make them in bulk, and make them last long enough to get to the battlefield. Beyond that, everything's gravy. Wear and tear accumulated through training flights is a no-no.
The Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has set out, for the first time, his proposals for the creation of a Palestinian state. The plans, he said, correspond to a framework outlined earlier this year by US President George W Bush which said that a Palestinian state would follow Palestinian reforms. They call for a Palestinian state within parts of the West Bank and Gaza, with provisional borders by next year and definitive ones by 2005. However, the plans, Mr Sharon stressed, were conditional on "an absolute end to terror" and, "above all else, all the Palestinian security organisations must be disbanded." He also demanded the replacement of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. That kinda shoots the whole thing down, doesn't it? Hamas won't stop the booming, and if they did, Islamic Jihad wouldn't. The "security organizations" are a self-contained power who won't consent to being disbanded, and if they were, the members would join al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. And Yasser won't leave office until he's dragged out kicking and screaming, or else carried out in a box.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/05/2002 09:39 am ||
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I'd prefer him carried out kicking and screaming in a box
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/05/2002 10:31 Comments ||
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Of course he wants a palestinian state, he just wants it to be East of the Jordan river. Apparantly that's what Arafat, Hamas and company want as well because they've been pushing all the right buttons trying to make it happen.
Several members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network have infiltrated the Gaza Strip and Lebanon and are working with Hizbullah to target Israel, Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday. "We have information for some time now that al-Qaeda people have entered," he said at a news conference. "The information says that a small number entered the Gaza Strip. We know they are in Lebanon in close cooperation with Hizbullah. We know they are in the region. There's no doubt that Israel is a target for an attack."
Israel's army chief, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, warned earlier this week that bin Laden is sending instructions to Palestinian activists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He spoke after the twin attacks on Israeli targets in Kenya last week were linked to al-Qaeda or its affiliates.
Meanwhile, a statement published on the Arabic forum www.mojahedoon.net has announced the creation of "The Islamic Al-Qaeda Organization in Palestine" to "serve as a powerful basis for restoring the rights of our Arab and Islamic people in Palestine, and will defeat the Zionist Jewish invaders." Nice of them to confirm it.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/05/2002 01:16 pm ||
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So Debka was actually right
Posted by: Paul ||
12/05/2002 18:09 Comments ||
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A 12-year-old boy and his father were killed Wednesday in Gaza in a clash between supporters of Palestinian groups over who would write graffiti on a wall, witnesses and hospital officials said, according to AP. Sounds any street gang you could name, doesn't it.
The clashes erupted in Sheikh Radwan in Gaza City as supporters from Hamas and Fatah gathered to write graffiti about the upcoming Eid al-Fitr holiday. Allam Jabin, 12, and his father, Issam Jabin â a policeman and a Fatah member â were killed in the fighting, hospital officials said. A Hamas supporter was wounded by shrapnel from a homemade hand grenade, the officials said. A policeman and a Fatah member - sounds about right. Teaching his son all the right Palestinian family values, no doubt..
Posted by: Steve ||
12/05/2002 01:20 pm ||
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What? No video of father and son cowering behind a concrete wall before being shot?
Now, where have we seen this story before....
Posted by: Joe ||
12/05/2002 14:58 Comments ||
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Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday that a full investigation into allegations that former senior Shin Bet official Yossi Ginossar was responsible for managing a Swiss bank account belonging to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and PA financial advisor Mohammed Rashid was already underway. The allegation was made by the Ma'ariv daily in its Thursday edition. The funds in the account were not defined as belonging to Arafat and Rashid, but as "monies of the Palestinian people." One and the same.
According to the report, Ginossar and his business partner Ezrad Lev transferred some $300 million in funds from the Lombard Odier bank account to unknown destinations during the first year of the current intifada. Ginossar received handsome commissions for his services, the report said, and in return, he funneled money to Rashid via fictitious companies that were set up. Read elsewhere he got about $10M in comissions.
The former Shin Bet official responded to the report by saying that all of his business activities were legal and that he had filed all the necessary reports to the relevant authorities. He pointed out that when he was officially involved in missions for the government Israel, he did not engage in business activities, but that he did make use of the business connections with the Palestinians to advance contacts between Israel and the PA. Advanced his own pocketbook, it seems.
Ezrad Lev gave Ma'ariv details on the arrangement. "I couldn't continue to live with the feeling that I was partner, even if in a completely passive manner, to illegal and unethical acts, including under the table bribe payments, conflicts of interest and problematic conduct," the paper quoted Lev as saying.
Lev, a 42-year-old business man, opened the Swiss bank account on behalf of the Palestinians and was used as their financial strategist. He was also Mohammed Rashid's financial advisor. Hope these guys get what's coming to them.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/05/2002 02:55 pm ||
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I don't think the Israelis use firing squads anymore...
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2002 15:23 Comments ||
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I don't recall they ever did...as I remember, the only crime that carries the death penalty in Israel is being a certain grade of Nazi. And that's a hanging offence.
An Israeli army helicopter fired a missile into a two-story building in Bourrej refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, killing four people and wounding at least 10, hospital officials said Friday. Israeli troops moved into the camp early Friday with tanks backed by helicopters. The army said it was conducting a targeted operation. Inside the camp an intense gunbattle broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen, spurred on by calls through mosque loudspeakers urging people to come out and fight the troops. The army had knocked out the electricity source for the camp and ambulances were having difficulty reaching the area. Good thing Hamas says there aren't any al-Qaeda there. They could get hurt...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/05/2002 09:01 pm ||
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The alleged operations chief of Jemaah Islamiah (JI) has confessed to being part of the Al-Qaeda linked terror group and to taking part in the Bali bombings that left nearly 200 people dead, police said on Thursday. Police arrested Mukhlas alias Ali Gufron, and eight others in a series of raids late on Tuesday on the central Indonesian town of Solo. 'Mukhlas has confessed to be a member of Jemaah Islamiah,' Maj-General I Made Mangku Pastika told reporters. Gen Pastika said that Mukhlas admitted to taking part in meetings in early August to plan the blasts on the Indonesian resort island. I never realized the Indons had such high quality truncheons...
In a separate disclosure, Erwin Mappaseng, chief of the Indonesian police's criminal investigation department, said that the Bali bombing was financed by a robbery in a jewellery store. He said that US$35,500 was supplied for the attacks and the money was used to buy a car and explosives. There's a fine line between a crook and a terrorist. And sometimes there's no line at all...
He added a man known as Hambali, the former operational leader of the JI, passed the money on to his replacement in the organisation, Mukhlas. The money was passed ''through Wan Min, a Malaysian citizen who has been arrested in Malaysia', he said. The Malays picked up Wan Min a week or two before the bombings...
Gen Pastika said last week that Mukhlas had Hambali as head of operations for the JI. He qualified this on Thursday, saying it is still not clear if Mukhlas is Hambali's successor. Meanwhile, a senior Malaysia official said on Thursday that the arrest of Mukhlas was a cooperative effort, with Australia providing the technical prowess and Malaysia and Singapore the intelligence. And Indonesia the trucheons and moustachios. Don't know who provided the giggle juice — but at his press conference with the coppers a couple weeks ago, Amrozi was literally giggling...
The official hailed the arrest, saying that Mukhlas could provide authorities with crucial information on other top JI leaders, including the whereabouts of Riduan Isamuddin alias Hambali.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/05/2002 09:32 am ||
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Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tiger rebels agreed on Thursday to develop a government that would give the rebels a chunk of the country regional autonomy â a breakthrough decision after months of efforts to end the 19 years of fighting between them. The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for independence since 1983 but gave up the demand just ahead of the third round of peace talks in Oslo. Now, both sides agreed to pursue a peace based on the principle of internal self-determination in Tamil-dominated areas of the north and east, according to a draft copy of the joint statement obtained by the Associated Press. 'The parties have decided to explore a political solution founded on internal self-determination based on a federal structure within a united Sri Lanka,' the statement said.
It also said that political steps must be supported by measures to ensure continuation of an existing cease-fire and 'that new concrete measures will be taken to facilitate further de-escalation.' The agreement was reached a week after the reclusive rebel leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran said for the first time that the Tigers were in favour of a solution that offered 'substantial regional autonomy.' The statement said that the rebels will let competing political parties stay in their regions as long as they are unarmed, and that the activities of their courts and police would not extend into government-held areas. Ceylon's been a single "country" for 2500 years, and hasn't moved an inch. There's always been movement between it and the Tamil Nad. Now the Tamils need their own chunk of it. Nor will this be the end of it. The Singhalese are Buddhists, y'know. And the Tamils are Hindus and Muslims.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/05/2002 09:32 am ||
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India is the elephant in this room. It would love to add Sri Lanka to its portfolio. And, this might provide an excuse. There are a lot more Tamils in India than Sri Lanka. India allowed the Tigers because they destabilized Sri Lanka. Now that they have a "homeland", it's probably another matter. Look for Tiger troubles on the mainland unless India manages to kill this deal.
An explosion ripped through a McDonald's restaurant in the eastern Indonesian city of Makassar Thursday, killing two people, police said. ``There were two blasts, the first at a McDonald's counter in Ratuh Indah mall. Two people died,'' police officer Rafael Sandy told Reuters by telephone from Makassar on Sulawesi island. Two people were seriously wounded and several were slightly hurt, he said. A second explosion, which caused no casualties, occurred about an hour later in a car showroom about three miles away, Sandy said. The McDonald's explosion came at 6:55 p.m., shortly after the breaking of the Muslim fasting period for Ramadan, when the restaurant was busy. Police were investigating whether the explosions were caused by bombs, Sandy said. Either that, or something went terribly wrong with the Secret Sauce™...
There have been clashes, including bomb attacks, between Muslims and Christians on parts of Sulawesi island and elsewhere in the sprawling, predominantly Muslim country in recent years.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/05/2002 11:01 am ||
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The last few times I've been to McDonald's I've felt like doing the same thing. It may have just been a disatisfied customer.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/05/2002 13:09 Comments ||
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JOHN Howard rejected Opposition calls to apologise for his "strike first" terror strategy despite more anger from Asian leaders yesterday. Labor leader Simon Crean said the Prime Minister's remarks had put Australians at increased risk of terrorism and he should contact Asian heads of state to explain. But Mr Howard said apologising to Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad and others was an extraordinary suggestion.
"You only apologise when you have something to apologise for," he said. Damm straight.
Mr Howard's remarks that he would act against terror plots being hatched in foreign nations have sparked a storm of protest across Asia. Despite summoning Asian ambassadors to a damage control session on Wednesday, Mr Howard stuck to his guns yesterday.
"I know exactly what I said, I said it deliberately and I said it because it was correct," he said. "It was a perfectly reasonable statement of a totally defensible principle. Those remarks were not meant in any belligerent sense towards our friends in Asia."
Mr Howard originally said, when asked about foiling an overseas plot: "It stands to reason that if you believed that somebody was going to launch an attack against your country, either of a conventional kind or of a terrorist kind, and you had a capacity to stop it and there was no alternative other than to use that capacity, then of course you would have to use it." Here's to you, Mate!
Posted by: Steve ||
12/05/2002 11:59 am ||
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I don't drink, but for this, I'll make an exception.
Canada had better wake up, smell the coffee, or they'll be left behind when the Anglosphere begins to rumble...
Evidence is mounting that the country has unwittingly been playing a role for terror network operatives in Southeast Asia, and could, at the very least be providing a safe haven for al Qaeda. When al Qaeda operative Fathur Roman Al-Ghozi was arrested in the Philippines early this year, he was on his way to Thailand. Based on confidential intelligence documents obtained by CNN, Al-Ghozi told his Filipino interrogators al Qaeda operatives were told to meet in Thailand to avoid a terror crackdown in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.
Al-Ghozi never made it to that meeting, but another al Qaeda operative did -- Canadian-Kuwaiti Mohammed Mansour Jabarah.
An intelligence report from a western nation confirms Jabarah attended that meeting along with another man, Riduan Isamuddin.
Also known as Hambali, Riduan Isamuddin is the operations chief for Jemaah Islamiya (JI), al Qaeda's network in the region. Intelligence sources tell CNN Hambali sits on al Qaeda's leadership council. An FBI document obtained by CNN says it was in Thailand that Hambali announced a "plan to conduct small bombings in bars, cafes or nightclubs frequented by Westerners in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia."
A CIA document obtained by CNN confirms that "Hambali was located in Thailand and commented that he had one ton of explosives in Indonesia." All these "leaks" of documents make me wonder if somebody high up has authorized their release.
Al Qaeda operatives, regional intelligence officials tell CNN, are working with local members in Thailand. However, Thailand denies the presence of al Qaeda within its borders. "No, don't say that! It's bad for the tourist industry!"
"We have no such evidence that Thailand is the place where they have, they plan terrorism or they have any relation to terrorism," Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told CNN. Denial is one of the first steps you have to work through.
Philippine intelligence reports obtained by CNN show numerous links between armed Muslim groups in Thailand and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest Muslim separatist group in the Philippines. The MILF ran three al Qaeda training camps, intelligence officials tell CNN, and when the Philippine military captured one of those camps, soldiers found Thai passports. These guys seem to lose passports at a alarming rate. No wonder they have to have so many of them.
Recently, Thailand's Supreme Military Commander, Gen. Surayud Chulanont, said he is aware Muslim extremists fled to Thailand following the crackdowns in neighboring nations, but denied they had any links to the Bali bombings. Fingers crossed behind his back.
Yet, according to CNN's investigation, one of the militant groups he named, the Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia from Malaysia has been co-opted by al Qaeda and linked to the Bali blasts.
The problem with denial, intelligence officials say, is that -- like in Indonesia -- at worst, it allows the network to flourish. At best, denial gives al Qaeda a safe haven. And at worst, you wake up and they are running your country. I'm afraid Thailand may not wake up until the bombs start going off in their country.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/05/2002 02:21 pm ||
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VICTORIA Police have denied reports of a terrorist training camp in the state, saying they relate to unsubstantiated allegations. Reports said Islamic extremists linked to Jemaah Islamiyah fired weapons and conducted close-quarter combat training in remote forest outside Melbourne.
However police this morning said there was no evidence to support claims of such a camp. "The allegations were made late 1998-99 and were investigated by ASIO with the assistance of local authorities," police deputy media director Kevin Loomes said in the statement.
"There was no terrorist activity substantiated or any evidence of a terrorist training camp."
Senior UK-based al-Qaeda operative Abu Qatada, accused of being a key influence in the September 11 attacks, allegedly attended the camp as a guest speaker. While Australian law enforcement officers maintain Qatada, who is in custody, was refused entry to Australia in the 1990s, leading Muslims claim otherwise. Sheikh Taj el-Din Al Hilaly, Australia's most prominent Muslim leader maintains Qatada entered the country in the 1990s and engaged in a speaking tour as well. Fehmi Naji El-Imam, Melbourne's Preston Mosque imam, confirmed yesterday that Qatada - also known as Omar Mohammed Othman - spoke to his congregation.
Extremist Indonesian political movement, Ahlus Sunnah wal Jammah, which is associated with terror group Laskar Jihad (LJ) was believed to have organised the camps. The close-knit group, known for its secrecy and fundamentalist ideology, is based at the Preston Mosque. The group frequently advertises youth camps. The existence of such camps, or the presence of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jammah could not be ruled out as the mosque had between 500 and 1000 members.
Camp attendees came from Algerian, Somali, Lebanese, Palestinian and Philippine backgrounds. Some Philippino members were linked to JI. Members of the Sydney-based extremist group Islamic Youth Movement (IYM), which publishes a pro-terrorist magazine, attended the camps. Attempts to contact the IYM were unsuccessful. Islamic warriors, who fought in Afghanistan or Somalia, were alleged to have led camp training sessions, which involved target practice at distances of up to 200m.
Posted by: Paul ||
12/05/2002 04:47 pm ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
